We had a great little hike this weekend with Poodles At Play up above Tilden Park, in Berkeley.  I need to explore around the Grizzly Peak Road area a little more for some hiking.
This area above Tilden boasts views from Antioch across Marin, Mt. Tam, the Golden Gate, and San Francisco (seen here).  It also looks out over Contra Costa on the other side of the ridge, with Mt Diablo, Las Trampas and unknown waves of ridges receding to the East.
This is a WWII gun battery set up for a straight shot at anything coming through the Golden Gate.

Cap'n Jack Gets His Sea Legs

Our friend Mark invited us to go over to San Francisco for a benefit called "Dog Day Afternoon" put on by the retail store Pawtrero.  It's a benefit for the Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, and only a few blocks from a berth at South Beach Harbor.

We got the boat in the water in Alameda, got Jack and Mark's girl Maya (THE Mayanator!) secured, and coated (it was pretty chilly starting out, and we blasted across the bay!

You'll want to turn up the speakers for this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-jO8vIR70&feature=share&list=UUS_dLL095bBlV_SYcocYQIQ

We had breakfast at Red's Java House, and threw some discs on the lawn.  Yeah.  That lawn.  That lawn right there...

We had a great time with all the dogs at the Pawtrero event, but I didn't get any pictures as there was so much going on, I couldn't handle Jack with one hand and the camera with the other!

We had beers at 21st Amendment, where Wendy joined us...

It turned out that I won a $50 gift cert to a local restaurant in the Pawtrero raffle!  So we headed back to the event to meet more dogs, hear more music.  Things were starting to wind down, so we stuffed our pockets with treats being handed out by various vendors, and headed back to the boat.  You can see that Maya is the REAL captain here....

It was a Grand Day Out!  I think the only thing a dog likes better than a car ride is a boat ride!

Close Call

October 21 was Jack's regular DOCP injection day, at Day 28.
The day began with Jack being a little tired, or sleepy.. I didn't really take much notice.
We went through our usual morning ritual: We greet each other by the back door with wags and pets, then I open the door, and Jack goes out on the porch.  He then turns around and sits down.
I sit down with him, and we have more pets.  Often, he'll finish this little ritual by putting his front feet up on my shoulder (body rubs!) and he'll kiss me on the nose, spin around and run around the corner to do his usual morning ablutions.
As usual I got his breakfast at this point, probably about 5:00am.
I left him out there with his breakfast and went to the garage to practice guitar a bit.
Soon, Sue Ann came down and told me that Jack hadn't touched his breakfast!
He was up in his crate, and we knew this was a sign of an impending crash.
I gave him his DOCP injection immediately, and in a couple of hours, he was right back to normal.
I think we're going to do his electrolytes this month, and see if it tells us anything.
It's odd, because I've missed his injection once by several days, and it didn't seem to make any difference to him.

August Back Packing

It's been a while since we posted on this blog, and there's been a lot going on!
First, Jack and I went for a backpacking weekend with our neighbors John and Speedy the weekend of August 23.  We see John and Speedy on Dunsmuir Ridge almost every morning we're up there.
Speedy is a rescued pit bull, and John is a fitness fanatic, who realizes the key to a great pit (or just about ANY dog) is them getting enough exercise. So, they go up the hill twice a day on his mountain bike.
Needless to say...John and Speedy are in GREAT shape.

The four of us started at the trailhead for Castle Peak off Highway 80.  We climbed to 9000' and change, to the top shoulder of Castle Peak, and across a windy ridge to the North to the shoulder of Basin Peak.  You then bushwhack across to the Northwest across another ridge which will show you the trail down to Warren Lake at 7200'.  It's probably 7 miles or so, but the elevation gain and loss are brutal.
Warren Lake is really nice, because it's so hard to get to, there are very few people even so close to Hwy 80.  The weather was just about perfect: cool.  If it had been hot, this would not have been possible.
Jack had a great time, and actually seemed to play with Speedy once we got to the lake and got rested up a little.
Jack, Speedy and I, at the Castle Peak trail

There were a number of fires in the Sierra at the time, including an epic one burning to the south, near Yosemite.  You'll see the smoke that almost made us cancel the trip on this shot heading up to Castle Peak

We were all pretty bushed when we finally got to Warren Lake....

But the view was worth it...

Boy were we tired when we got home.  After a 4 hour ride in the car, we both just stumbled out into the driveway!

Cleo and CCD...

Our first dog, Alex, had Canine Cognitive Dysfunction.  In his later years, we'd catch him staring into a bookcase, like he was looking for something, and forgot what he was looking for.
It's very much like human Alzheimer's Disease.
Cleo is clearly demonstrating CCD.  Poodlezheimers.
We discovered that Cholodin made a huge difference in Alex.  In fact, once we started him on it, his attention picked up the very next day.
I've had Cleo on Cholodin for quite some time, in a fairly haphazard way.  Sometimes she'd get it and sometimes she wouldn't.  Until I ran out the other day.
She's been having trouble for almost a year with her appetite.  She tells me she's hungry, but refuses all kinds of good things to eat.  Yesterday, I couldn't get her to eat anything.
We went through the refrigerator: roast beef?  Nah... How about liverwurst?  You can't turn down liverwurst... Meh...  Roasted broccoli?  ChickenStick(one of her favorite junk foods from Trader Joes).. *sniff.... Nah.  I cooked some rice in lamb stock.  Ground beef.  Nothing.
After Jack and I returned from agility at 8:00pm, I grilled some chicken thighs, cut up the skin and fried it.
Finally, she ate a little of that.
I have more Cholodin on the way, but this morning she was pretty vague.  I got her to eat some of the chicken from the night before, and we had a little walk.
The vet had no real advice for us with Alex, and we in fact turned him on to Cholodin (I should have charged HIM for the visit).  We have a vet appointment next week, so perhaps there are other things available now.
Perhaps I'll just get: "well, she's old", that'll be $50, please.

Vacation Road Trip!

We're just back from a little 5 day road trip up to Southern Oregon.
We stayed at a motel in Jacksonville, the Wine Country Inn, which looks on their website like a B&B, but isn't at all.  It's a classic, if classy, motel.
But it turned out to be great.  We were almost the only ones there.  The location was perfect for hitting all the new wineries in the Applegate Valley.
We met up with old friends Denny and Kim Miller for a run out to Longsword, DeVitt and around through Grants Pass, stopping at Del Rio.
Longsword....
When we got to the tasting room, we noticed a number of stripey chickens, and three big sheep hanging around the front of the patio.  I thought it would be no problem, they'd see the dogs, and mosey out of the way, as there was a sign declaring that they were dog friendly.
Somehow in the chaos, Jack's leash wasn't attached to a human.  Probably as I was lifting Cleo out of the car.  A chicken panicked and ran.  I heard the chicken and saw the red leash flying off behind Jack in hot pursuit.  Sue Ann was right behind him.  I've never seen Sue Ann move so fast.  Then, right behind her came the winery owner in his tall Wellie boots, running full tilt.  Oh...no.  He wasn't armed, so I left the chase and apologies up to Sue Ann, who is better than me in both departments.  I got ready for a hasty retreat from the winery.
By the time Farmer Matt and Sue Ann came back around the corner of the barn, Jack in tow, I could see that everything turned out well.  We enjoyed a fine viognier and a few other local So Oregon tastes and made many chicken jokes.
The Applegate was gorgeous.  DeVitt was my favorite.
Jack seemed to develop some protective tendencies now that his pack was bigger.  He barked and lunged at every dog he saw.  Even humans approaching when we were at the motel got his defenses up.  It took him several days to settle into the life on the road, on leash and in towns.  But man, was he On Vacation!
He was never skiddy or afraid, it seemed.  He was wild, but he was confident!  So we worked on getting the leash rules back.
Jacks favorite thing was when we went out to Cantrall Buckley park, on the Applegate River.  I went swimming out there often when I was a kid, and nothing there has changed.  I remembered it like I'd never left.  Jack was in heaven.  He ran around in circles woofing, leaping about, jumping tummy deep into the river, and back out again.  He was a dog.  He jumped over Cleo and ran around some more.

After that, it seemed like he settled in a bit.  He was great the next day at Red Lily Winery, a beautiful log frame building with it's own beach on the river, and a nice patio.  We all sat on the patio while a nice lady brought us wine, water and dog cookies.  The breeze was perfect, and the dogs loved the attention.  

Also of note was Dancin (Dan and Cindy) winery on the outskirts of Jacksonville.  Great potential here for Pinot Noirs.  Beautiful Napa style fancy place, with a big koi pond, and shady lawns and picnic tables.  Dan said he really wanted a place where people could just hang out, read a book, talk, have meetings, etc.  Since most of these wineries were only on their second year, it was all pretty impressive.

Great German food, wines and beers at the Schoolhaus Brewhaus.  It's got patios, where dogs are welcome, but it's not as nice as the wineries.

We took a great road trip with Denny out to Crater Lake, stopping to see the Rogue River Gorge.  Jack was pretty protective, and had to be in the lead all the time, but better than he had been.

We had a nice picnic on the lawn the next day, with a roast chicken we picked up at the store, some veggies and blue cheese dressing.  We needed a low key day, and Jack responded beautifully to it.  There were dogs all over town that day for a "Dog Walk for the Deaf" event, and he was a perfect gent.

Cleo too, responded well to the vacation.  Sometimes we've had trouble getting her to eat or pee when we go on the road.  Not this time!  She ate better than she does at home.  She loved the long walks and the attention at the wineries.  She's still the Poodle Ambassador, who says hello to everyone in turn.  At 14 1/2, she's still a great dog.  She's a little vague, she gets stiff and needs help down the stairs, but she still loves a road trip.

Another great day with Poodles at Play.  This time, we were out at Castle Rock park, Walnut Creek.  It's a little creek walk that goes up to the Mt Diablo State Park boundary (NO DOGS ALLOWED!)
But there were probably 25 poodles on this walk, and everyone had a great time.

Walter and Oliver ( I just dig Olie...) have a raucous relationship...Oliver's got balls.

Jack did well with the heat, it was in the mid '80's and Alex and Cleo would have melted, I think.

Emmy had it covered in her space suit!

We had a great outing with the Oodles of Poodles play group Sunday.  Hard to count, as participants came and went throughout the few hours we spent at the Berkeley Marina, but it looked like 20 or so dogs.
Some really beautiful dogs in this group, I was especially taken with a dapper gent named Orlando (you'll see him prance through the little video) and a petite young lady named Vanni.

Jack is getting better at this kind of thing.  He doesn't quite recognise himself as "one of those poodle things", but is starting to get it.  "Hey... they look like me.. am I one of those?"
When we all started off, the other dogs would run ahead on the trail, playing with each other in typical poodle fashion: chasing, and occasionally boxing with the front paws.  Jack thought this was pretty exciting, but didn't realize he was also invited.  He'd look back at me as if to say: " is that what I'm supposed to do?  It looks like fun, but ...I don't know..."  I kept encouraging him to go ahead and play with the other dogs.  I guess he gets mixed messages from our walks: "stay close, stay with me"  versus 'go ahead and play.. but be nice..."  I can see where it could be confusing.

We've got agility coming up on Saturday, and the Poodles at Play group at Castle Rock (Walnut Creek?) on Sunday!

Jack's DOCP injection was today, and I'm getting better at it.  He's very good about it.
But I refilled his prednisone prescription yesterday at the vets.  Holy smokes!  They charged me $43.14 for 60 5mg prednisone tablets.  That's $.71 each.  They're all over the web at $.09-.10, often with a 10% discount at PetMeds.  That's how I'm able to get his Percortin for $165-170/vial.

Last week, Jack gave us a little scare.  Sue Ann brought him back from a run, and said she thought she saw his hind legs tremble.  To me, that's a sign that we might have screwed up on the Percortin.
So, we took him in for an electrolyte panel.  It was about 4 days early for his injection, which we're solid on every 28 days.  It came back great: Na=149, K=4.2.  Got a nice chat with Dr. Doe about it, and he's pretty impressed with how well Jack is doing.
Today I gave him his injection, on schedule.  No idea why his legs were shaky, as SA doesn't run him very hard, it's just a trot around town.

Last weekend, Jack and I went out again with the Poodles At Play group.  About 20-21 people and a few more dogs than that came out to a gorgeous 3 mile hike at Del Valle in Livermore.  We ended up having lunch at The Carvery, a Harry's Hoffbrau thing with a big patio where the dogs could all chill.
Jack had SUCH a good time.  He wasn't nervous around the other dogs, he was just glad to be there.  Conservative, to be sure, and he always wanted to know exactly where I was.  Very convenient for me, I didn't have to look for him, he was looking for me.  He didn't really play, but he did attract a fan.  Little Ricky, a 7mo old black standard really thought Jack was keen.  It was great.

Heeeerress..Jack!

Sue Ann took Jack for a run this morning.  When they got back, she reported seeing Jacks hind leg shaking a little.  Uh-oh... I forgot his DOCP injection, which should have been yesterday.
Well, I guess we know the timing limit on this now, don't we.
He got his injection this morning, and I ordered more Percortin.

Jan 19, day at the beach!

Sue Ann and I finally got a Saturday off together (well, most of a Saturday, anyway), so we packed up the poodles and hit the beach in Half Moon Bay.  It was the day before the Mavericks big wave surf competition, so the ocean was big.  We also thought we'd run into crowds and traffic, but it never happened.
None of this would be remarkable, except that Jack has never been into playing ball.  Really, he's never really gotten the idea of "playing".

Well, he got it today!

Happy New Year!

We measured Jack's electrolytes on the morning of day 28, which happened to be New Years Eve, just before I gave him his injection, and he's dead on: Na=147, K=4.5, right in the middle of the range.

2012 was a pretty cool year for fun with the dogs, as you can see in this blog.  Cleo has her 14th birthday next week, and we've been going through some issues with her: night time 'leakage', some 'vagueness' or cognitive disorder we're treating with Colodin.  We're still wrestling with her appetite.  She'll tell us she's hungry, but then takes one sniff  (of whatever yummy beef, or chicken we've cooked specially for her), and walks away.  She'll then stand there as if to say: " not that, dummy.. something ELSE".

Jack's coat has improved with lessening the prednisone dosage, as has his water throughput.  He's still shy around new humans and dogs, I just don't think that will ever really go away at this point.  He's inclined to get heavy, as he doesn't really have a run-till-you-drop sport, like chasing balls and such.  We can only keep putting one foot in front of the other, and limiting his snacks.

We're looking forward to another great year, and hopefully, improved business.